Wickliffe man gets maximum sentence in killing of Euclid teen

Miranda Dietrich, the mother of Prentice Dietrich-Smith makes a victim's impact statement Thursday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court at the sentencing of Wickliffe resident Christopher Dowen, right. Dowen was given six years in prison after earlier being found guilty of reckless homicide and tampering with evidence. Supporting his mother at left is her son and Prentice's brother, Jayden, 13.

Christopher Dowen apologized Thursday before being sentenced to the maximum six years in prison for unintentionally killing 18-year-old Prentice Dietrich-Smith.

“I’m sorry. It is my fault,” Dowen told Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Maureen Clancy. “Prentice is no longer here because of my actions. I will never forgive myself for this. Prentice did not deserve to die.”

Dowen, 19, of Wickliffe, fatally stabbed the victim once in the abdomen June 30 at Dietrich-Smith’s Euclid home. Dowen claimed he was being punched and kicked by five people at the same time.

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A jury found Dowen, who lived in Willoughby at the time of the incident, guilty Dec. 18 of reckless homicide and tampering with evidence. He was acquitted of murder and felonious assault.

Dowen went to Dietrich-Smith’s home after threatening the victim on Facebook. The victim was the former boyfriend of Dowen’s fiancee.

Miranda Dietrich, the victim’s mother, said she was relieved with the sentence.

“You are a monster who got up and chased Prentice down the street,” she told Dowen while holding up a photo of her son with his three surviving siblings. “Prentice had his whole life ahead of him and you ruined it. Our family has been shattered.”

Prosecuting attorney Kristin Karkutt said Dowen deserved the maximum.

“It was the defendant who put into motion the events that led to the homicide of Prentice Dietrich-Smith,” Karkutt said.

However, he argued that Dowen, who had no prior criminal history, was a good candidate for community control rather than prison.

“This is not an excuse, but Christopher has had a bit of a rough life,” Klammer added. “His father was never in his life. His mother and him have been estranged since ninth or 10th grade.”

At times, Dowen was homeless and lived in a park, but Klammer said his life changed for the better when he met his fiancee, Samantha Terriaco.

“He and Samantha are engaged to be married and are blessed with a 2-year-old son,” the defense attorney said. “Both were accepted to Kent State and were going to move there as a family.”

Dowen, who was on house arrest until his guilty verdict, maintained a ‘B’ average in Kent’s business program despite his pending court case.

“He is a kind, respectful, gentle person,” Klammer said. “This was out of character for him.”

The judge said the bottom line was that Dowen killed someone for no reason whatsoever.

“Because of you posting something on Facebook, someone’s dead,” Clancy said. “He interjected himself in Prentice’s relationship with someone else and then went to his house with a knife and confronted him. This person did nothing to you. Zero.”

Dowen plans to appeal his sentence.

“The jury agreed that this case was not a life-sentence murder,” Klammer said after the hearing. “While the sentence on the murder would have meant possible life in prison, this six-year sentence still ignores who Christopher really is. The Facebook dispute was not the heart of this case, it was merely a sensational backstory.”